Senior AFL writer for The Age

Jobe Watson celebrates with David Zaharakis after kicking a goal. Photo: Getty Images

After another tumultuous week in the life of his football club, Essendon chairman Paul Little on Saturday was happy to acknowledge an anniversary of sorts.

"It's 12 months since I made my first speech as chairman of the Essendon Football Club, and I'd have to say it seems like a lot longer than 12 months, a hell of a lot longer," Little told the club's chairman's dinner before the game against West Coast, the audience responding with a rueful chuckle.

"And it was the West Coast game that actually was my very first official function. Who was to know then what the future was going to hold?"

Little didn't need to add that a year down the track, still nobody knows what the future holds for Essendon, its suspended coach James Hird, nor, most importantly, the 34 present or past Bomber players with show-cause notices from ASADA hanging over their heads.

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And it was they upon whom Little was keen to focus his primary message after the three-day Federal Court hearing this week in which the club had attempted to prove the illegality of the joint ASADA-AFL investigation into Essendon's alleged use of banned substances during 2012.

"The job will not be done until we are able to clear the names of the 34 present and past players of the Essendon Football Club, and the job will not be done until we have been able to have the show-cause notices removed for those 34 players, 20 of whom are still in the club today," Little said.

To that end, Little again implored ASADA to act swiftly if it had information that could help expedite the end of a saga that has now dragged into its 19th month.

"Whether you believe or disbelieve that the Essendon Football Club did have all the answers, it sort of doesn't matter much now," he said. "What matters is that the truth needs to come out.

"We need to have the answers, we need to have the truth and we need to be able to better serve the interests of the 34 players who are only young men and young men who have been under significant stress now for some time.

"If ASADA has further information, then it must be produced, it simply has to be produced. It is just not acceptable that information is out there that we don't know about and we can't use to help and assist these 34 players."

Little said if the club won the court challenge, it was still entitled to understand "what really took place". He said the three days in court had revealed a lot of information of which the club was previously unaware. But he added, if the challenge was successful, Essendon would need to work pro-actively with all parties to bring a resolution to the crisis.

"What does a resolution look like? I'm not sure," he said. "All I do know is that I think we have got a massive opportunity now with the Federal Court action and with the findings that will be handed down and off the back of a win, if we do win, then I think the stage will be set for us to demand greater clarity and a far greater level of understanding of what happened and with all parties that were involved."

The Essendon chairman also addressed another victim of the drugs saga, the football public frustrated by the on-going diverting of attention away from the game.

"We acknowledge that the broader football public can become and have become somewhat frustrated with Essendon capturing a lot of the limelight that's out there at the moment, a lot of the distractions that are out there at the moment," he said.

"And we don't seek for that to be the case. We've certainly been accused on occasions of having ulterior motives. Motives that may be aimed at trying to ensure that the real truth does not come out, motives that surround the delaying tactics - again, that's just all scurrilous, That's simply not the case. The board is extremely dedicated and is very aware of its responsibilities."

And after a year on the job, Little also is a bit more aware of the demands of the mess he inherited.

"We acknowledge that the broader football public can become and have become somewhat frustrated with Essendon capturing a lot of the limelight that's out there at the moment, a lot of the distractions that are out there at the moment.

"And we don't seek for that to be the case, and we've certainly been accused on occasions of having ulterior motives. Motives that may be aimed at trying to ensure that the real truth doesn't come out, motives that surround the delaying tactics – again that's just all scurrilous. That's simply not the case. The board is extremely dedicated and is very aware of its responsibilities.

"We acknowledge that the broader football public can become and have become somewhat frustrated with Essendon capturing a lot of the limelight that's out there at the moment, a lot of the distractions that are out there at the moment.

"And we don't seek for that to be the case, and we've certainly been accused on occasions of having ulterior motives. Motives that may be aimed at trying to ensure that the real truth doesn't come out, motives that surround the delaying tactics – again that's just all scurrilous. That's simply not the case. The board is extremely dedicated and is very aware of its responsibilities.

"We acknowledge that the broader football public can become and have become somewhat frustrated with Essendon capturing a lot of the limelight that's out there at the moment, a lot of the distractions that are out there at the moment.

"And we don't seek for that to be the case, and we've certainly been accused on occasions of having ulterior motives. Motives that may be aimed at trying to ensure that the real truth doesn't come out, motives that surround the delaying tactics – again that's just all scurrilous. That's simply not the case. The board is extremely dedicated and is very aware of its responsibilities.

"We acknowledge that the broader football public can become and have become somewhat frustrated with Essendon capturing a lot of the limelight that's out there at the moment, a lot of the distractions that are out there at the moment.

"And we don't seek for that to be the case, and we've certainly been accused on occasions of having ulterior motives. Motives that may be aimed at trying to ensure that the real truth doesn't come out, motives that surround the delaying tactics – again that's just all scurrilous. That's simply not the case. The board is extremely dedicated and is very aware of its responsibilities.

"We acknowledge that the broader football public can become and have become somewhat frustrated with Essendon capturing a lot of the limelight that's out there at the moment, a lot of the distractions that are out there at the moment.

"And we don't seek for that to be the case, and we've certainly been accused on occasions of having ulterior motives. Motives that may be aimed at trying to ensure that the real truth doesn't come out, motives that surround the delaying tactics – again that's just all scurrilous. That's simply not the case. The board is extremely dedicated and is very aware of its responsibilities.